Jackleg

[Dennis R. Preston]

Please don't write in about the word "suggered." Just note that the
"g" is right next to the "f" on the keyboard.

dInIs

>When I was a kid and worked in my parents' paint and wallpaper
>store, a 'jackleg painter' was a combination of several of the
>following facts:
>
>1) non-union
>2) self-taught
>3) unreliable (often suffering from painters' colic, although respected
>       professionals also suggered from this malady)
>4) not full-time
>5) not skilled (i.e., producing shoddy work, not just failing to
>appear, failing
>       to pay workers or bills, as is suggested in 3))
>6) worked for less (obviously connected to 1))
>
>In short, it was a "general negative," and any one of these features
>might have been highlighted in a single instantiation. It would be
>difficult to say which were the required and which were the optional
>features for the semantics of it.
>
>dInIs
>
>PS: Before you ask, "painters' colic" is the need for strong drink
>after work to cut the paint fumes from your throat. A better excuse
>than many; at least it fronted a physical rather than psychological
>need.
>
>>Thank all of you for the input on jackleg/jakeleg/jake brakes:
>>the usual mixture of erudition, wisecracks, informed specu-
>>lation, and inimitable "other" that I so love about this list and
>>its contributors.
>>
>>Have at least some good general possibilities in mind now
>>for the derivation of "jackleg" and "jakeleg"...and the latter's
>>merely fortuitous (though Jacobs Manufacturing Company
>>might consider it otherwise) connection to "jake brake."
>>
>>Wondering now what are the parameters for "jackleg" ?  As
>>Jonathan Green mentioned, it seems usually applied to "various
>>incompetent, unskilled or unprincipled professionals"...preachers,
>>lawyers, and I believe I've heard doctors so termed.  Can't recall
>>an instance of other professions...pharmacists, librarians, etc...
>>it might be applied to, however.
>>
>>On the other hand, "jackleg (car-)mechanic" is well recognized;
>>and again, believe I've heard it of plumbers.  So a jackleg (my
>>father's use was that non-specific) can also be blue-collar, I pre-
>>sume ?
>>
>>Finally, Is there included a sense of "self-proclaimed" or "self-taught;"
>>and in the latter case, might a jackleg mechanic (for example) be
>>fully as competent, skilled and principled as Mr. Goodwrench ?
>>
>>
>>
>>                                                                       Steve
>>Hicks
>>
>>                                                                       Hicks
>>Information
>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>Department of Linguistics and Languages
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
>preston at pilot.msu.edu
>Office: (517)353-0740
>Fax: (517)432-2736

--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736
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